The Airports Authority of India (AAI) who manages 125 airports in the country, has made 35 of its airports single-use plastic free while 20 more will soon follow the suit. The state-run airport operator has declared Indore, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Tirupati, Trichy, Kolkata, Varanasi, Chennai, Patna, Coimbatore, Ranchi, Trivandrum, Goa, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Vadodara, Madurai, Raipur, Vizag, Pune, Udaipur, Srinagar, Imphal, Jammu, Mangalore, Amritsar, Port Blair, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Agartala, Calicut and Jaipur, single-use plastic-free terminals. “On the basis of a third-party assessment carried out by Quality Council of India, 35 airport terminals have been declared as single-use plastic-free,” an AAI official said. Under the second phase, a total of 20 airports have been identified, namely Gaya, Rajkot, Jodhpur, Gorakhpur, Leh, Surat, Aurangabad, Rajamundhry, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Dimapur, Silchar, Belgaum, Jabalpur, Tuticorin, Bhuj, Kangra, Jamnagar, Allahabad, among others. A third party assessment will be conducted by Quality Council of India to ensure compliance. Souce: CNBC-TV18

The 48th Skål Asia Congress will be held from June 27-30, 2019 in Bengaluru The three-day Congress will be held at Taj MG Road and will welcome around 300-odd delegates from all over the world. Sharing more information on this is Ranjini Nambiar, National President, Skål International India, who says, “There will be around 100 foreign delegates, more than 150 Skåleagues from India and about 50 guests that include sponsors and government dignitaries. Our chief guest will be the Tourism Minister of Karnataka SA. RA. Mahesh who has accepted our invitation.” The event will have two panel discussions and three keynote speakers. Gujarat Tourism will also be part of the Congress.  

 Vivek Jain, Managing Director, Griffon, a cruise specialist in India, has revealed that it is currently working on developing a portal dedicated to the travel agents. He says, “We plan to launch this portal by Diwali time around October 2019. It will be a B2B website which will have real-time inventory of two to three cruise companies that we promote in India. This will allow agents to log in and get real-time availability of inventory, get real-time rates and even make bookings on time limits. So they will be able to get full information with regards to the availability of these cruise liners. It will also have all the ship information, as well as excursion details which they can use to explain to their clients exactly what to expect on the ships.”   Jain however refused to name the ships that have come onboard for this and added that these names will be revealed at the time of launch. Griffon handle sales and marketing activities in India for various international cruise companies including Pullmantur Cruises, Celestyal Cruises and Oceania Cruises.    

The majority of India’s inbound tourists (60.6 per cent) are from long haul source markets, that is, greater than six hours’ flights, according to a latest report by CAPA India research and analysis. Most of the world’s largest tourism destinations receive the largest proportion of their visitors from short and medium haul markets. This distance puts India at a strategic disadvantage in terms of cost and ease of access and increases the number of potential destinations it competes with that lie within a similar arc. It is relatively less well-placed to attract travellers planning short, spontaneous breaks.

About 39 per cent of Indians do most of their travel planning during weekends, which is higher than the regional average of 32 per cent, according to Amadeus’ Journey of Me Insights report. This is followed by other options like 24 per cent during holidays, 17 per cent after work on weekdays and 13 per cent while at work . Only 7 per cent of respondents plan their travel while commuting from one place to another, the report said.

WTTC forecasts the total contribution of Travel and Tourism to India’s GDP will more than double from USD234 billion in 2017 to USD492.2 billion in 2028. Besides the direct contribution of travel and tourism to national GDP, the sector’s induced contribution increased 6.6 per cent per annum between 2012 and 2017, while indirect contribution grew at 7.5 per cent during the period, CAPA India’s Inbound Tourism Report reveals. The sector can support job opportunities in rural opportunities in rural communities — where they are needed the most, especially in developing countries like India. Additionally, for developing economies, travel services were consistently the lead contributer towards service exports between 2006 to 2016.

Over 80 per cent CEOs from leading hospitality firms in India believe that the sector will see robust growth in the coming years, according to a latest report titled ‘Hospitality insights from the Indian CEO’s desk’ by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PWC. Eighty-three per cent CEOs believe that revenues from business travellers will grow significantly over the next few years. Although MiCE has not been a significant contributor to the Indian hospitality sector so far, this trend is likely to change with better planning as well as improved infrastructure. On the other hand, few CEOs believe that leisure travel will keep pace with growth seen in business travel and MiCE.

Over 50 per cent Indian travellers want to stay connected while travelling compared to other APAC travellers. According to Amadeus’s Journey of Me Insights report, only 43 per cent of APAC travellers want to keep up to date with what is happening in the world. Besides, 46 per cent Indian travellers want to stay updated with work/business as compared to 32 per cent APAC travellers. The report further reveals that 43 per cent Indian travellers want to use apps to meet new people using travel and social apps compared to only 28 per cent across APAC, while 47 percent Indians want to be able to use convenience apps in comparison to 34 per cent in APAC. Indian travellers are committed to their work, open to meeting new people, but also looking for convenience while travelling.

Tour operators and travel agents can now create customised tour itineraries for their clients with complete ease with Jumbo Online. This Spanish online company has recently signed on Global Destinations to push its product to the trade here in India. Speaking about this is Pranav Kapadia, Founder & Director, Global Destinations, who says, “Jumbo Online is a global online system and we will be promoting them to the trade here in India. Once registered on this site, agents will get their individual logins and they can start creating itineraries by booking whatever their clients require – hotels, transfers, sightseeing, etc.” Jumbo Online also owns Eden Incoming in Italy. Their core advantage, Kapadia adds, is their good and competitive rates across the board, whether it is hotels, sightseeing or transfers, specially in certain parts of the world like Latin America, Europe, and the US. “Agents can build an entire package on this system and can pay online or offline. Some agents have already registered on the site after knowing about them through our EDMs.”

India and the Maldives have decided to launch a passenger-cum-cargo ferry service between Kerala’s Kochi and Male, the capital of Maldives, via Kulhudhuffushi atoll in a bid to strengthen connectivity between the two countries and boost tourism. On his recent state-visit visit to Maldives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih have asked officials to expeditiously work towards starting the regular passenger-cum-cargo ferry service between the two countries. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two sides for the establishment of passenger and cargo services by sea. The distance between Kochi and Male is about 700 kms, and between Kochi and Kulhudhuffushi atoll is 500 kms. Addressing the Maldivian Parliament, PM Modi said, “I am particularly happy that we have agreed upon a ferry service between the two countries.”